The Dragons of Storybrooke : Before The Curse was Broken
by Andysaurus
Summary: What was the Dracos family up to in the years before The Dread Curse was Broken ? Note that they also crossed paths with the Grimm in Portland, Oregon (see under crossovers).
1. The Prologue

If one could ascribe emotions to the inflexible golden scaled features of His head, then The Gold Dragon Lord was viewing the human female on the other side of the Viewing Portal with frigid disdain.

"And to what do I owe the displeasure of your presence Maleficent ?" hissed The Dragon Lord. He had been able to decide his responses in advance, otherwise he might have been more wary.

"I would like you to answer a simple question for The Blue Fairy" snapped Maleficent in her most petulant manner. Yes, thought the Dragon Lord, and that's how you put everyone's back up, including Me when you broke our bargain. You annoyed The Evil Queen even before She demanded The Dread Curse back. The fact that he had been far-spying on their amusingly poisonous conversation was something to keep for another time.

"I already know the question" hissed The Dragon Lord not wishing to explain how He knew in advance. Remote far-spying was a perk of either the metapsychicly gifted or those with advanced meta technology. He had access to both and wanted to create as much unease as possible since only the likes of The Sibylline Witches were supposed to be able to know such things._ "The answer is far from simple"._

"Then will you tell us how to get the child safely to the World Without Magic?" asked Maleficent, now feeling rather uneasy.

"And what do I get out of it?" he hissed using the double voice only his bird like syrinx could produce. He was feeling a bit throaty and really needed another bath in the hot pool. The last one had not been hot enough as His new junior valet, a squire He had recently captured along with its previous master, a Knight Errant currently chained up in the dungeon, was nicely collared and obediently docile, but not yet fully house trained.

The Blue Fairy seemed to swell with indignation.

"Throughout my life I have had to deal with those who want something of value and can pay for it, yet expect to get it for nothing. Generally Noble trash and Wizards". Maleficent was both, well, minor nobility and an accomplished Witch.

The Blue Fairy accepted the point and un-swelled, asking _"What do you want?"_

"From you, nothing. I will give you an answer and help in any way that I can to break the curse. As you know, the Imp actually wants the curse to be broken so that He can get to His son. But there are dangers that even He does not appreciate. There are powers even greater than magic to contend with in this matter, and the World Without Magic is neither as bereft of magic as it seems, nor as primitive as He and You would assume. There are other ways besides magic to get things done". Like building the Medieval Decor Dragon Towers where He now lived with His son's Alex and Liam and their grown up broods, in one of the deep fertile ravines on an otherwise airless world. The Dragon Lord continued :

"From, Maleficent, I want what I wanted long ago, male children". Maleficent had made a bargain with him but run off after learning the Dragon form morphing spell he had devised for her. Continuing :

"There is time for the children to be born before The Dread Curse is unleashed. I shall care for them, all of them". The "_all of them_" would please Maleficent, who had few maternal feelings.

However, his real reason was to ensure their safety. As He had looked into the Time Vortex in metaconcert with His sons and The Daemon Lord also known as The Source, He knew something of what The Evil Queen was planning. He might have learned more, but the constant disruption of The Vortex by the passage of sentient organic Lymlak ships, sentient organo-metallic Simbari city ships, the Vorlon Fleet of worlds, The Shadow's Crystal Planet, and the odd Tardis on Time Lord business, was too much of a distraction.

Maleficent nodded in reluctant acquiescence. Empathetically, He sensed that this was feigned; she was actually planing to get something out of this too, girl children. Well she was in for a shock. He had "seen" in The Vortex something of what The Evil Queen had planned for Maleficent while The Dread Curse held sway. He then instructed them :

"You need a magical vessel to affect the transfer, to act as a Portal in itself. Because such an enchantment is too difficult to achieve by any means in your realm, you must use the last enchanted tree remaining in your realm. Make it into a suitable vessel and I will program it so that it will send the child to safety"

"What about the parents" asked The Blue Fairy, clearly uncertain about the nature of the answer that I was giving, and as The Dragon Lord knew, she didn't have a clue what "_program_" meant.

"It can only contain enough enchantment to transport two people, one at a time. So use it before the child is born. That is all. First locate the tree, then I must advise you further concerning its preparation"

The Blue Fairy left to locate the tree.

I transformed the viewing portal into a gateway, morphed into my human form and stepped through, naked except for my moving meta-active, full body dragon bio-glyph "tattoos". Maleficent snickered and lead me to The Perverted Boudoir. She must think I'm stupid. I refused to enter, business before her version of pleasure was vital now, so I became "insistent" and we went to her normal bedchamber.

This business was going to require many years away from the tower. Which meant getting help to ensure that His prized dungeon collection of chained Errant Knights were fed, watered, and mucked out. Alex and Liam would have to check up each week on the His Gremlins, the Dragon Realm's "reptile" version of the Evil Mogwi, equivalent to the Winged Monkeys used by The Great (and Powerful) Oz, otherwise He might be forced to release His collection back into the wild, with lots of gold to keep them happy as a conservation measure. Alex and Liam would be happy to look after His domesticated slaves, as good help is always hard to capture. Then there was also the problem of the auto-vermin, needed to maintain the correct dungeon ambience in the lower tower and the dungeons. Left to themselves, the dwarven spider bots always ended up hiding the skeletons and doors under a thick coating of webbing. Really, having a quality dungeon decor is quite expensive.

What He had not yet told the Blue Fairy is that He had been forced to lie, otherwise The Evil Queen might learn too much. Only one life form could be transported, and The Time Vortex had revealed that for some reason it had to be the baby. However, there was one other who could be transported because of his unusual enchanted origin - the wood carvers son, Pinnochio.


	2. Dragon Natural History

**"European Type" Dragon Natural History and Definitions**

The correct term for an intelligent "European Type" Dragon is a Dracon. Dracons are similar in their genetics and physiology to Hyper Accelerated Protean Abnormals. The Dragons genes are transmitted as an additional gene set linked the to the Human male Y chromosome (Dracons use the mammalian XY set along with an additional avian WZ set). Most Dracon Human pairings are consequently sterile and "magic" is required for successful fertilisation and development of the, normally, all male Dracon embryos. Females do not carry the Dragon gene set.

The typical Dracon body form is that of a bipedal winged Herrasaur, with head horn crests and the addition of dextrous arms and hands. Both hands and feet have 3 main fingers and toes, with the remaining fingers and toes being somewhat reduced, rather like the 5th toe in dogs. Dracons can run well, and they have a moderate perching ability. The hands and feet are strongly clawed, as are the wing thumbs. The Dracons thorax is short and inflexible, somewhat like that of birds, and their upper arms are slender and relatively weak. This allows for the growth of the neck, tail and in particular the wings. Owing to their long necks, Dracons, when they stand erect, are taller than the average Human. In the normal standing position they are human shoulder height. Dracons do not have mobile lips like humans. Words are produced by a bird like syrinx and the mouth may be open or closed. Thus a Dracon normally sounds somewhat like a parrot, but by using it's tongue and flexing its kinetic skull and lower jaw, it can have the same accent as its human morph.

Dracons grow at the same pace as their human counterparts, however they resemble reptiles in aspects of their intellectual development. At the age of 20 they are emotionally only age 10. At 28 they are really teenagers. A Dracon is not fully mature until at least 100 years old (if that).

Until young Dracons are at least half grown (physical age 10) they exhibit two main differences from their adult form. Their wings are not sufficiently well muscled and robust enough for flight, but are well adapted for gliding. Their bodies, except for the wings, head, hands and feet, have an insulative covering of down feathers which is normally sufficient to make clothing unneccessary - precautions must be taken against feather lice and fleas. The human to dragon morphing ability does not normally develop until they are at least eight years old, although if there is need it can be easily induced by the example of the male parent morphing. Juvenile Dracons are more prone than adults to skin colour change caused by developmental personality change. As in dragons, Red and Black are the most common Dracon body colours, although Blue, Green, Gold and Silver occur.

Dracons have poor night vision but excellent 4 colour complex avian day vision. Their hearing remains mammalian, while the respiratory system and hollow bone structure is similar to that in the ostrich. The waste system and its physiology is also similar to that in the Ostrich. The genitalia are internal like lizards and birds, with forked hemi-penis within the base of the tail. The hemi-penis join together to form a human like penis, thus mating with humans may be done in either Dracon or Human form.

Venom glands are present in the upper jaws (as in some Dinosaurs and Snakes) and Lower Jaws (as in the Komodo Dragon and other Platynotan lizards). The "Premolar" serrated dagger like teeth have venom groves, while in the adult the upper "canines" contain venom channels similar to those in the fangs of the Spitting Cobra. The venom is highly neurotoxic inducing extreme pain and paralysis in Humans, and sedation in other (aggressive) Dracons. The spit venom is both painful and blinding to Humans; Dracons are merely blinded for a short time in either body phase. Both the Human and Dracon phases have continuous tooth replacement.

Dracons also have special adaptations of the arms to provide the energy for specialised elemental functions (Electrokinesis, Pyrokinesis, Cryokinesis).

In their Human phase, Dracons develop bio-glyphs or morphic tattoos. These begin on the wrists, and as the Dracon ages and becomes more proficient in "magic" they gradually extend up the arms until the entire body and face are covered. The attractive bio-glyphs normally look dragon like except on the upper arms and may move and change colour, not unlike the chromatophores in cephalopods.

While classed as Magic Beings, Dragons (Dracons) have only limited magic as it is commonly understood. Dracons belong to that class of beings having Master Class Meta-functions, that is highly developed Psi abilities. Dracon Magic is the result of the advanced application of these abilities, principally creativity, permitting Dracons to perform limited "magic" even in a magic free environment. This, together with their high intelligence and the unusual structure of the brain required for flight control, permits Dracons to open and navigate inter dimensional congruencies (gates, portals, thresholds) with relative ease. However, Dracons cannot teleport without magical aids even if they know the appropriate meta-program. A frequent solution by learned Dracons is to either enchant a teleport scroll that allows the user to teleport to a fixed location, or to create an amulet of teleportation which does the same thing. The knowledge to do this is known to the Morrowind Mages Guild and The Tribunal Temples.

none - weak - limited - moderate - strong - Grand Master - Paramount Grand Master

**In the case of the Dracos family :**

Family Member : Dad (Andrew), Leo, Rex, Trian

Dragon Type / Colour : Gold, Red, Black, Gold

Human Hair Colour : Blond, DarkBlond, Black, Blond

Human morph Facial Hair : stubble, CircleBeard, CircleBeard, none

Temperament : Eccentric, Grumpy, Badass, Eccentric

Profession : Mad Scientist, US Cop, John Ross Ewing , Mad Scientist

Magic Worker : Enchanter, SpellSword, Warlock, Conjuror

**E.S.P. :**

Telepathy : grandmaster, limited, moderate, moderate

Far-sense (scrying) : paramount, moderate, moderate, stong

Clairvoyance : moderate, weak, weak, weak

Astral Projection / Dream Trance : paramount, moderate, moderate, strong

**Other :**

Redaction (psychic healing) : paramount, moderate, moderate, strong

Coercion (mind control) : limited+, moderate, good+, limited

Psychokinesis (levitate self) : moderate+, strong, strong, moderate

Psychokinesis (levitate other) : strong, strong+, moderate, limited

Psycho-creativity (illusion, magic) : paramount, limited+, moderate, good

**Elemental :**

Pyrokinesis (fire) : strong+, strong, strong, moderate

Cryokinesis (frost) : strong, moderate, moderate, moderate

Electrokinesis (spark) : paramount, moderate, strong, strong


	3. Leaving Storybrook

Dr Andrew Dracos paused after mentally ticking of nearly all the remaining things on his to do list, and stroked his dark blond naturally buzz cut hair with its' arcane hairline. For 8 years he had functioned as Storybrooke's independent Environmental Health Scientist, and now that was at an end. Not that there was really anything to do, but The Evil Queen was scientifically illiterate and so he could fob her of with almost any excuse and the money would come in. Anyway, The Twisted Imp might once have spun gold from straw, but He could spin electronic dollars from nothing. So money was never an issue, and with the growth of The Internet it just got easier. The computer facilities in Boston and the furnished apartment there was set up as ordered, as were the facilities in Nottingham and the passports with dual US UK nationality for the Dracos family. All that remained was to make the break with Storybrooke, for the next 20 odd years.

Downstairs the boys were playing up again, as Buster's hissing and Jason's barking made clear. The girls, evil little hellions that they were, knew that what they were about to do was, well, not illegal, but this was the domain of The Evil Queen, and She could start asking difficult questions. So the girls were proving quite helpful for once, someday they would make evil look moral. Once in Boston, he must buy them the St. Trinians books to provide moral guidance. As Environmental Health issues were to be dealt with in Boston, and as it was the summer break period of Teachers Rest, Parents Pest, so the children would never be missed from school and The Dread Curse would eventually anasthatise people's memories of the Dracos family.

Dracos, that name had served Him well down the centuries since he was a little adopted newly hatched baby in High Rock, put in the care of the local alchemist in return for favours from certain unnamed powers to the local feudal shit head. He still had the enchanted morphing armour he had made, partly for protection as he had traded his way around Tamriel, and partly, along with Dragon Sword, Shield and Mace, to show that He and not some Sumerset Isle High Elf was Tamriel's greatest Enchanter. The armour would have to stay hidden under the house in the Enchanting Laboratory he had created and stocked by tampering with the parameters of The Dread Curse and Storybrooke's Arcane Map Layout Table that The Evil Queen thought was a secret under her mansion. Also hidden with the armour, shield and weapons were His technomagical Dragon Staff and arcane books. While he might not need the blued steel armour again, thought it was fun to wear, his boys might need to use it and the books to protect themselves from the likes of The Twisted Imp. The Dragon staff would be needed by himself to fend of high level magical attacks from the likes of the Daedric Princes or his "relative" The Witch King. At least he was on good terms with The Daemon King.

Ah, yes. The Twisted Imp. Right. The Imp's cursed daedric dagger. The dagger He had substituted with a copy, His psycho creative powers being adequate for the task. Enchanted with just enough "magic" to fool a casual examination, the copy was now in The Imp's shop. The real dagger was hidden and hopefully untraceable by scrying. It would allow him to threaten The Imp, and would also protect The Imp against exploitation, all in the interest of preserving balance. Funny how so few in Storybrooke actually knew how to use "magic". The Fairies were really a joke without their fairy dust and wands, and even The Evil Queen was an amateur compared with her missing mother, the talented Cora. And Maleficent, the mother of his children, was out of the picture for now.

With everything in the house now either shut down, packed up, or hidden away, it was time to go. A large paper saying "Looking for work in Boston. Please leave everything as found" had been left downstairs, just in case Sheriff Graham should try and break in and then instigate a search for the errant family.

Downstairs, as he had expected, he found a tangle of claws, wings and tails. Even Buster the Staffy had morphed into Wyvern form. Fortunately, Jason the Alsatian had more sense than to get involved. Leo along with Rex had been "playing" with Trian, who having morphed, was now biting them with teeth designed to inject or spit paralytic neurotoxins. The potent venom's had been designed as a last ditch defence in-case the arm muscle electrogenerators where in refractory mode. At their age, the boys were only able generate a few weak spark bolts from each arm. The same situation applied to their in-built pyrokinesis and frostkinesis. The venom also had another use, sedating aggressive "older" brothers. Trian had become quite a biter of late, something his human teachers naturally disapproved of. That twit Hopper had even made unpleasant and inaccurate comments about it in addition to Trian's hyperactivity and immaturity; all quite normal for the children's age and high intellect. Pongo had more sense than Hopper, and knew that they were not humans. Good thing that they were too young to fly yet, else there could have been some real issues during the past year while playing in the woods. As it was, they were good climbers and passable gliders, at a very steep angle of descent. He eventually got them to morph back, dress, and as a restorative, drink the remaining milk in the fridge. Only a store of dried and condensed foods that would last years remained in the house.

Gathering their packs, they silently left the house as the moon was rising. Their human vision was actually relatively good at night, since like birds, dragon vision was more day adapted. Using his farsense and telepathy he was easily able to lead the little Dracos crocodile away from their home on the edge of Storybrooke and into the woods. Later they joined the road out of Storybrooke and by morning they had reached the roadside diner where he called for a very big cab. Once in the Boston apartment they rested and spent the next week shopping and setting up the office systems, even Leo got interested in this. Then schooling had to be arranged for a couple of years, and several Derbyshire estate agents contacted so that a suitable rural UK home could be purchased. He also needed to locate Pinocchio, and pay his college fees. When the children were 10 years old they chartered a flight to the UK, expensive but necessary if they were to take the dogs, and established their growing research company in Derby. However, the real reason for the "temporary" relocation was arcane, the closer they had a fixed home to places like Stonehenge the better.


	4. A new Home overseas

Dr Andrew Dracos flipped up his visor, got off the bike, set the steering lock, and wearily trudged with the shopping into the house to a greeting of barks and wagging tails. It was starting to rain, again. Having a car would make the shopping easier here in Tideswell. In Storybrooke, for eight years, there had been no need for car or bike, and raising the six kids, even with help, had taken up too much of his time. He knew that in some previous life he had driven a car, but he also knew that his abilities had been marginal at best, and now he just didn't think and respond like a human. Now, he still didn't have time to learn how to drive a car; his main recreation for the first two years in the UK, besides ghost writing the Morrowind computer game and practising the violin and harp, had been getting the bike licence. Riding a bike was the next best thing to flying, since hang-gliders were so impractical, and was needed for his site survey.

The family had spent two years in Boston, and they had all hated it, well He, the boys and the dogs hated it. The girls found Boston's urban environment ideal for their evil little schemes. The city apartment had been ok, but they all liked some greenery, and He and the boys needed somewhere to spread their wings. But how could one go and play in the woods when there was some gun-toting sociopath behind every tree, trying to kill not just the poor wildlife but anything else that moved. And He knew that if they were discovered there would be hell to pay, unlike here in the UK were people were relatively passive and restrained. Finding a family of Dragons would be a nine days wonder for the media, then everything would settle down again, apart from a few scientific and religious pests wanting to pay a visit. The worst problem might be government epidemiologists wanting to do health checks.

He had spent the first two years living in the north of Derby, going up to the Peak District at least one day a week on the bike while the kids were at school, or at weekends going on bus trips with the kids. They had discovered that the water in the Tideswell and Castleton areas had "magical" properties that they could use for making magical potions. It was also relatively close to the stone circle at Arbor Low, the henge and tumuli at Stanton Moor, and various other ancient arcane sites. During this time the business, in advanced electronics and computing AI, had expanded nicely from the main offices in Boston and Nottingham. More home office and laboratory space was needed. There were also various covens of Wica, mostly deluded but a few had real merit. The Peak District also had many groups of British arcane Abnormals and Wesen, such as the Shia, Tuatha De Dannan and Fervulag. So the place had a good atmosphere for the dragon family.

He would have liked to buy Haddon Hall, More Glass Than Wall, no, that was Hardwick Hall. Eventually He had located a nice large Elizabethan / Jacobean stone house with all mod cons not unlike the home they had in Storybrooke, and He had "forged" the planning permission needed to build a computing room and laboratories. The house was near Tideswell, but was not walking distance, unlike in Storybrooke. There was a sizeable estate, and privacy. Since there was a bus stop near, getting the kids to school was not an issue. The boys went to one school, where they got a bad reputation as hyperactive pains in the neck. The girls went to another school, which soon became known as and the constant recipient of back-handers to prevent the girls being expelled. The science block burnt down more than once, and the computers needed special protection against unauthorised access. It was never proved that the girls had passed their exams on the basis of stolen exam papers, since scrying had been used. And, after He had paid it a visit, traces of neither gunpowder, dynamite or TNT were ever found amid the ruins of the Science Block.

The boys Higher Education was done by sending them to Derby University to study science. They were able to commute each day on their supercharged bikes, there being an abnormally high failure rate with the north bound traffic cameras; having farsight and being able to levitate proving useful when the driving conditions were bad. The girls went to Nottingham University to study both business studies and science, coming home at weekends to be a pain the tail and demand money with menaces. By this time He had got the boys into the habit of improving the houses' ambience by wearing Tuxedos or Faustian Tails at night. Tudor dress with ruffs was another dress option which they enjoyed.

After ten "happy" years in Tideswell, it was time to move again. The UK could not provide all the technical infrastructure and resources needed to produce the equipment needed to generate a "Dragon Magic Field" around Tideswell or Storybrooke, and supplying the US military with high tech equipment demanded access to US manufacturing. So Dad was forced to set up offices and manufacturing in Portland, Oregon, a Wesen rich area. An apartment was purchased near to the Portland Technical University so that the boys could all do higher degrees. The girls opted to stay in the UK for now and look after the house, pursuing higher degrees in Nottingham or London. Later the girls decided to move to New York and pursue various power mad schemes. Periodically they would come home and twist Dad's arm, getting Dad to teach them more about psi abilities and its links with magic. Yes, look out Regina.

The Portland operation expanded rapidly over the next 8 years. Leo joined the local police force to spy on what the authorities were doing until he was needed to help run the business. Rex joined the security company we used and then owned. Trian did a PhD while, as Technical Director (or Junior Mini Me as the Staff called Trian), helping to run the labs. A larger home was bought near the labs, and later Dad purchased a regular mansion with estate, after the owners left following a "Banshee" problem. This was the sort of place where Dad and the boys always felt like wearing their Tuxedos or Faustian Tails at night, unless they and the dogs morphed and went for a romp around the grounds.

Then Emma returned to Boston.


	5. Giving Henry the Storybook

Rex Dracos finally slowed the bike down, looking for the turn off. Night driving was difficult enough, but he needed to drive around the edge of Storybrooke and arrive unseen at the home he had not seen for twenty odd years. Farsight would have proved helpful here, but only Dad and Trian could use it to any degree when riding because of the amount of split concentration needed. So much for Luke Skywalker navigating using The Force. Finally he arrived at their home and disembarked. Using his rather average farsense to avoid fumbling in the dark, he located a set of keys hidden "under the mat" near their rather large garage, and used his better than average telekinesis to extract them from the crack. Opening up the garage, he put the bike inside the garage and closed the door. Using his relatively feeble creativity he created a ghost light and entered their home by the connecting door.

Heading to the bedroom he planned to use, Rex removed his Tron one piece suit, emblazoned with White Edged Dragon motifs. Actually Rex was a Black Dragon, as indicated by his blue-black, naturally buzz cut, hair with arcane hairline, short jet black moustache and beard. Dad had said that dragon skin colour, or human phase hair colour, was temperament based. Dad and Trian had dark blond hair and were Gold Dragons, although Leo who, because of his very short temper and belligerence was a Red Dragon, also had dark blond hair. Rex was rather damp after the ride and there was no power in the house. So he activated his pyrokineses over an area around himself, where the probability of combustion at the quantum level was increased, and modified it into a kind of fire shield by naturally feeding in organic gases from his body, while using his feeble psychocreativity, feeble except when offensive needs were concerned, to stabilise his clothing. The wet underwear dried off amid a cloud of steam. Dad had worked out this trick for when he had needed to wear his armour in Tamriel or when wandering round his Dragon Tower Dungeons in human form. The trick could be reversed as well, i.e. frost kinesis, giving protection from real immolation produced by something like The Evil Queen. Dad had said that was behind how magical frost shield's worked.

The blued steel enchanted morphing armour was sealed in the basement and Rex couldn't wait to try it on. Rex wanted a suit of reddened steel armour, and Dad had promised to make a set for each of the brothers as soon as it was feasible. Apparently it wasn't hard to do. The original armour was used as a template cum mould to psychocreativly copy the armour from the raw steel, and then Dad's enchanted hammer with pyrokinetic "Dragon Fire" was used to create the surface effects. Finally a thaumaturgists' magic wand was used as an easy means of creating any other etchings and the enchantment runes. The armour was based on Cyrodil Steel Half Plate Armour, but was Full Plate Armour chased with mithril and even had a front exit port for human ablutions (something that for us Dragons is less of a problem since we have a merged solid waste system like lizards and birds). The armour was worn over a padded undergarment, usually with a linen shirt with ruff, which looked really good; if you think it improbable then look at some of the Elizabethan paintings. Now that sort of garment is not easy to make unless one has the aid of a magic dressmakers wand, such as that belonging to most Fairy Godmother's; so Dad had advised getting a dressmaker, or a fairy, to do the job. Alternatively, one could get hold of the wand that The Twisted Imp had murdered a Fairy Godmother for. Now that could be useful blackmail information for the future. Such wands had to be charged before use, and that needed fairy dust or a substitute such as "magic essence", or being massaged by a Dragon to transfer transformed bioelectric energy to the wand.

Rex could do with a bath but that would have to wait until there was water and electricity again. There was a provision for emergencies, but only in the basement via spring water and batteries powered by a small heat pump in the nearby stream, if it still worked. Under the Ghost Light, he changed into the casual gangster like black leather clothing he had bought: pants, zip jacket and vest. A thick black snug turtle neck would be best for now rather than a leather or black shirt and tie. Then Rex unpacked the Lap Top PC and plugged it into the living room phone socket. The Lap Top had long life rechargeable batteries, so he ran it up and performed a diagnostic check on the connection to the Boston apartment. Yep, the phone company had reconnected the line as instructed, and the local vermin and damp had not damaged the line. Then Rex widened the area of the Ghost Light and generating a second Ghost Light, quickly checked over the house.

Maintaining the ethereal lighting was a strain because it fed off his bioelectirc aura, however he had plenty of stamina. Only Trian and Dad had the knack of converting heat into light in an apparent reverse of the laws of thermodynamics. It also represented a key difference between psychocreativity and "Magic". Rex just had to remember the appropriate meta-program taught to him by Dad, about wanting a light and, if need be, concentrate on moving it. Magic users needed to read or think a spell or incantation to do it, or use pre programmed hand gestures, as was "fashionable" when using telekinesis. A spell needed a magic energy field to enable it, and depending on the spell, might need another spell to deactivate it. So the user could be drained of electrical energy until they passed out.

Satisfied that everything appeared to be in order, Rex decided to get some food. He really did want something better than tea and a cup-a-soup heated by pyrokinesis that would drain his aura. Again only Dad and Trian could do the trick of moving heat from one place to another. Leaving the house, Rex headed for Granny's Diner. Rex had to hurry, and going in, got the unwanted attention of Sheriff Graham. Oh, well. Naturally Granny and co. wanted to ask questions, however a good scowl accompanied by a powerful coercive mental clamp made sure that he got served without question. Clearing out the obvious riff raff with redactive jabs that activated their waterworks, Rex cleared out a table for himself and sat down. He ate slowly, extending his local telepathy and farsense to bring in any interesting vocalisations. No-one had anything interesting to say, and with Sheriff Graham there, instead of in The Evil Queens' bed, Rex decided not to ask Ruby anything. He could definitely see her ghostly super wolf form, like a sort of Wesen. But no way was Ruby like a Big Bad Wolf, as they were a type of Abnormal.

We were on a tight timetable. Emma was in Boston, but for how long? Dad had just taken charge of the magnetostatic converter for installation near our Derbyshire home. Leo was with the dogs, putting our Portland, Oregon, operations on auto pilot. Trian was on a helicopter pilot's course near Boston. Trian had seen "Catch Me if You Can", and of cause it was all "I want to play at being a helicopter pilot". He even had an idea about how we could garage it after The Dread Curse was broken by using a fractal compression / expansion spell like that used by The Stormhold Witches. Now what film script writer had sold his Soul to Satan to learn about them? Of cause, it would need a lot of magic power to get it to work. Dad didn't know for certain what would happen after the curse was broken, but he knew that no-one was going back home and that The Twisted Imp must have some way of ensuring that he had access to magic. Of cause Dad knew about the properties of the wishing well, and The Potion of True Love that had been hidden away in "the belly of the beast", that is inside Maleficent, our Mum. The question was how would everything play out. We really didn't fancy meeting up with Mum, or our Evil Sisters in Wall and Threadneedle Street for that matter. If you think I'm evil, just remember that I would never rob Widows and Orphans, deal in class A drugs, or kill or maim a Cop (just chastise them). I just enjoy having the reputation of being the number one bad guy about town. The Twisted Imp's goons had better watch out.

Eventually, after a wash and a doggy bag for the morning, I was ejected as the Diner closed. My coercion and a redactive jab activating his already full waterworks, dissuaded Sheriff Graham from talking to me. I went home, phoned Trian in Boston, then hit the sack.

Next morning, I decided on a leather shirt and tie, snacked on what was in the doggy bag then contacted the utility companies and asked them about reconnection. That done, I headed to Granny's for a full tank up. Sheriff Graham was there yet again. This was getting tiresome. When Ruby got curious about me, I told her that I was camping in the woods, and was wondering if the town would do as a regular vacation spot for me and my family. The vague misdirection got her talking, and put Sheriff Graham off the scent, for now. I then went window shopping, got some useful provisions, and went to the town hall to try and get some information on the town. No such luck, The Evil Queen was on guard and I can't do invisibility or chameleon, yet. It's not that easy even for Trian's psychocreativity when there is no magic field around. I went home and met with the water utility people to get connected up. I told them that I wanted a quiet life, so please don't mention this work and forget about me, reinforced by veiled threat and extreme coercion. I spent the evening at Granny's Diner again, spying. Pity the quartz glow lights that use one's own bioelectric aura or the planetary magnetic field were sealed in the basement, not that I had anything to read. So after phoning Trian, I hit the sack early.

The next day the electric company finally showed up and everything was working again. I was able to open up the basement, and check that The Story Book was safe in it's case. During the day, amongst doing other things, I bought a new TV and Radio. That evening, I was able to put on Dad's armour with padded linen shirt and ruff. Great. Unfortunately the plate armour is really really heavy because the Weightlessness and Carry Burden enchantments are not working yet. Then in full armour, I played Oblivion on the Lap Top. Actually, I prefer Morrowind but the graphics are dated. Both Morrowind and Oblivion, being ghost written by Dad, serve as simple learning tools, particularly as we have specially tailored Dragon versions.

The Shivering Isles expansion on the other hand is just weird. From Frog to Man! Apparently the game developers really did sell their Souls to Satan to develop The Shivering Isles. Even so, the island layout of The Shivering Isles is apparently much like that of the home we had not yet seen, where we are at the top of the food chain. A complex wild island with a scattering of small feudal farming Manors, a couple of cosmopolitan villages with local self-governing subservient Nobility, and The Dragon Towers at the centre of the Islands and at various strategic locations. Finally, I phoned both Trian and Leo to brag about how nice the armour was to wear.

The next day, damn Sheriff Graham caught up with me at the house. It's irritating what a nice guy he is. Too nice to do the usual things that I do to people who annoy me, the redactive activate the water works trick being just the first in my coercive redactive arsenal. If he had been one of The Twisted Imp's goons then I would have had him legless, literally. Anyway, I just told him the truth, up to a point. With considerable surliness, I said that I was checking out the family home and was spending some vacation time getting to know the town, and didn't want to cause a fuss. I said that Dad had got in Regina's (The Evil Queen's) bad books so I wanted to avoid her at all cost. That he understood, Dad could be a real pain (for humans) to talk too, and everyone fears The Evil Queen. Sheriff Graham could actually remember what a nasty piece of work I was as a kid (and still am). I seem to remember leaving several snakes and toads in his and various teachers desks; grass snake shit makes a hell of a mess. Then there were our pet stinkpot terrapins, with their vicious bites, that we used to put the teachers bags. That night, I updated Trian over what had happened. He said that at this stage he would contact Dad about it, just in-case an overseas call by me drew unwelcome attention; he did not just mean by The Evil Queen. Trian was referring to the likes of The Verat, or even The Sanctuary Network. We were not on good terms with them; they seemed to think that we were abnormals and should be part of their collection. It had taken some effort, and bloody noses on their part, to get them to see sense. Dr Magnus had apologised, curiosity had got the better of her, but we hold grudges. And after what had happened to Praxis because of her meddling. Good think that the parallel Dr Magnus had arranged an evacuation plan for Praxis.

By this time, I had learned of Henry's identity and who his teacher was. According to Dad's list she was Emma's mother, and so was Henry's grandmother! Over the next few days, I tracked her to her crummy crumbling flat. That evening, I paid her a visit. Releasing a vial of magic essence, I was able to use my coercion to both mesmerize her and unlock her memory. I asked her about Henry and determined that he really was as unhappy as some people had hinted at. Seeing a shrink each week shows that. I gave her The Story Book, told her to give it to Henry and help him find his real mother, and then to forget about me. It looked like I might not have to coerce Henry.

The next day I checked that the book was in Henry's possession, and that night used my relatively limited farsight to check that it had not been discarded or confiscated. The next day, I managed to speak with Henry, and got suitable responses from him. That weekend, I reluctantly put Dad's armour away, sealed the basement, closed up the house and returned to Boston minus the Lap Top and my cloths since they could stay in the house for later.

The next stage would be up to Trian.


	6. Breaking The Curse Part 1

Trian Dracos slowed the bike down as the rain worsened and brought his farsight into play, giving him a mental overlay of the road ahead. He also concentrated on the wheels, using his psychocreativity to increase the binding force on the water's quasi crystal lattice under them. It became like riding through thin treacle so there was now no chance of a skid or aquaplane. Not that it really worried him. He might not have Leo's or even Rex's psychokinetic ability, levitating lab glassware was more his thing, like something from The Sorcerers Apprentice, but he could still levitate himself if a quick escape was needed. Actually, He was a real Sorcerers Apprentice.

Turning off, he slowed down. The Warding about Storybrooke affected the minds of the metasychicly gifted in various ways. It had made us all feed giddy when we left Storybrooke all those years ago. Even our evil little sisters had been affected, showing that they were going to be as least as gifted as their mother, the witch Maleficent. Trian next had to find the turnoff to go around the edge of Storybrooke and arrive unseen at their home which had been unused for 20 odd years until Rex had checked it a month ago. Rex would join Trian later, but for now he was on his own, without Leo's formidable elemental powers or Rex's savage coercion for protection. Though Leo was no mean coercer either, he just hadn't got Rex's finesse and subtlety. Leo had been a cop in Portland, and had used coercion to get confessions. But Leo's coercive influence ceased as soon as the victim was out of his grasp, whereas Rex could make things stick a long time, like certain powerful coercive Criminal Government Alpha's could. Of cause Trian was far from defenceless; he had a few redactive tricks, a sort of reverse healing ability, and his electrokinesis was formidable; like all the male members family he could, if need be, generate a paralysing electro mental bolt. The only other time he had ever seen that done was on TV, in an episode of Planet of The Spiders. Dr Who script writers selling their Souls to Satan again no doubt. He could also do something that so far only Dad could do, a meta-energy stream like that used by the Emperor Palpitene which was particularly effective against Daemons and other magic users.

Finally Trian arrived at their home and disembarked. Their house was a quite large distinguished Old World Jacobean style house with a brick interior and stone exterior. It just oozed ambience, which was the point. Laboratories and utility buildings were built onto the side in the same weather proof style. There was even a conservatory, sadly in need of minor repair due to cracked window glass. The entire property, house and laboratories, overgrown pool, weed filled garden, overgrown lawn and woodland, was surrounded by a stone wall for privacy. They would have to start locking the gates soon.

Using his considerable farsense to avoid fumbling in the dark, he located where the house keys had been hidden "under the mat" near their rather large garage, and used his weak telekinesis to put a duplicated set down the crack. All of them had learned to open locks using a combination of farsight and telekinesis, but having keys was usually quicker. Opening up the garage, he put the bike inside the garage and closed the door. Using his formidable creativity he created a ghost light and entered their home by the connecting door. He scanned the house with his farsight and telepathy, but found no sign that anything was amiss. No obvious sight of physical or psychic visitors, though soon, IF the curse was broken, they might need to set up Warding around the house.

As Trian was rather damp after the ride, he activated his pyrokineses and psychocreativity around himself. The wet underwear dried off, amid a cloud of steam venting from the seams of his Tron suit. Then Trian checked out the phone link to Boston using the Lap Top that Rex had hidden in the room sized basement wall safe. Satisfied with the link, he left the Lap Top on, made a pot of tea, and unpacked the bike. He had brought his own Lap Top and games, though in time they would need proper PC's for both home and lab. Trian had brought new sets of underwear, a Three Piece Leather Suit like Rex's, Tuxedo and Evening Tails. They all liked to dress nice at night, and having a 19th Century Mephistopheles look was fun. And with the exception that Leo was more inclined to dress appropriately during the day, they all dressed alike. Rex would bring his own new evening wear when he came up. And then there was Dad's armour to play with, before they all started literally squabbling over it. Back home in The Dragon Realm, Dad was used to wearing Tudor style costume with a ruff. Just for the fun of it they had done that back home in the UK, based on a less ornate version of the Blackadder style with a bigger linen ruff.

Taking the clothing to the bedroom that he wanted to use, Trian removed his Tron one piece suit, emblazoned with appropriate Gold Edged Dragon motifs. He was a Gold Dragon, as indicated by his dark blond, naturally buzz cut, hair with its arcane hairline. So far he had no facial hair, being the last born and so the youngest, and definitely the most immature, of the male Dragon triplets. For Dragon actually read Dracon. Most intelligent Dragons, like their mother Maleficent when transformed, conformed to the Skyrim Dragon Type of a quadrupedal dinosaur with wings. The Dracos family were more like extinct bipedal Herrasaur's, but with gigantic craniums, dextrous arms and bat like wings.

Trian had a nice bath, then changed into the casual gangster-ish black leather clothing of pants, sip jacket and vest. A thick black snug "Archersaurus" style turtle neck would be best for now rather than a leather or black shirt and tie, just as Rex had originally worn on arrival. Now Trian needed to eat out. Leaving the house, rather than walk Trian rode his bike round to Granny's Diner. He preferred biking and flying ( with or without wings ) to walking. Trian hoped that the Copter purchase would go through ok. Like Rex, Trian got the unwanted attention of Sheriff Graham, and naturally Granny and Ruby wanted to ask questions. So when Trian was asked by Ruby where he was from, Trian said Out of State and that his brother, Rex, had been in town a few weeks ago. Granny must have been gossiping with Sheriff Graham as I sensed that she knew that I must be staying somewhere in town. To me, Sheriff Graham felt, in a metapsychic way, as if he was satisfied. Trian ate quite slowly, extending his telepathy and farsense to skry any significant conversations. No-one had anything interesting to say, and Trian had no need to ask direct questions yet.

Trian left the diner with a doggy bag, and rode round to the Evil Queen's mansion. Parking in a quiet place outside he farsensed into the building. It was exhausting, but eventually Trian managed to scry a little boy who must be Henry, reading a very large book, The Book. Trian logged Henry's mental trace, which Trian recognised was the same as the trace Rex had logged when he had talked to Henry. Trian also logged The Evil Queen's mental trace, then rode quietly back home, detouring to get a feel for the town layout. Anyway, he enjoyed riding the bike. He had an "early night", because he needed to enter the Dream Trance state. This could be exhausting, which is why he had wanted the doggy bag of food for the morning. At least he could dream scry Henry and The Evil Queen easily now, and get some idea of what was going on.

Later that night, in a near trance state, Trian could also sense their Mother, trapped and mindlessly insane in the caverns under the Library. Doing what Rex did not have the skill to do, Trian sent out a soothing mental caress to her, making his presence known to her. Eventually, whatever happened, they might need to enter those caverns. Those caverns also held another secret. The main cavern was at the centre of Storybrooke and the influence of The Dread Curse. Thus it was the ideal arcane site from where to create and power a new Dragon Tower. The devices to do this were stored in fractally compressed form in our basement. The tower would be attached to our house, the power core would be dropped into the cavern.

Over the next week, events unfolded quite well. People became used to Trian about town, though he took care to hide from both The Evil Queen and The Twisted Imp. Although the pair had minor reports about Trian from their various henchmen, Trian was too low down on their problems list to warrant talking to Sheriff Graham. Trian cased The Imp's shop at night, getting an idea of the significance of its contents. Now that stolen dressmaking wand might be useful, but they had Dad's old wand's in the basement enchanting lab. Dad had installed the magnetostatic converter, built in Portland, below a fake tumulus "at the bottom of the garden". With a "Dragon Magic Field" over the area, Dad had been able to craft a new quartz crystal wand, and was setting up wards to keep any belligerent local wesen, abnormals, daemons and other supernatural vermin at bay. Dad's next task was to create two linked Portal Mandala Stone Slabs. They looked like something from "Dr Who and The Daemons". One portal stone would reside inside a nearby fake stone circle, the other would be flown to us. The Chopper might be used, by Me, to bring it here. It would be put where the Dragon Tower might be unfolded and give us a direct unsecured link between Storybrook and our UK home. Dad had plans for a secure portal looking-glass link between both of our homes. Then we would be able to easily travel between our homes, and decide where the portal, or portals, back to The Dragon Towers was to be sited. To we three of cause, this world was home. But one has to take the wider view, and like Dad, we wanted to visit our older brothers. And the Dragon Realm sounded nice. And we would be nobility, near the top of the food chain. As for our Evil Sisters, well maybe they would migrate with Mother to The Enchanted Forest. They would certainly give The Evil Queen a run for her magic in realm financial matters.

Events gradually continued to unfold. I was able to start practising with the wands in the enchanting laboratory, repairing all the damaged windows, and study the arcane books on magic and creating spells. I could not read Daedric or Tamrielic, but I could scry the meaning. I was able to talk to Henry; making out that I was just someone he had never bumped into before. I gave him suggestions and would have offered him financial assistance, or a free ride, but the little tyke extracted a credit card from his grandma, and high tailed it out of town to Boston to find Emma. I phoned Leo and Rex. Fortunately the Chopper had been delivered to Boston, and Leo would soon be on his way from Portland to Boston with the dogs. Dad wanted us all together when The Dread Curse broke. Dad could look after himself, but he didn't want us to get separated if anything "strange" happened.

When Henry arrived back in town with Emma in tow, I was watching on my bike. I had put a chameleon enchantment on the bike which made it easily for me to shadow Emma's movements in the dark. When she decided to leave town, I had to act. Using the wand I was carrying to focus illusion, I created a dog just where the warding cut across the road. Of cause it all went wrong due to the magic in the warding and came out as a very effective wolf. Maybe The Twisted Imp had planned it that way all along. Then with a telekinetic nudge amplified by my wand, Emma and car sailed safely into the historic town sign. And I'm not going to pay for the damage.

Over the next few days, I was kept busy scrying on developments. Until either Leo or Rex arrived I was largely trapped on the essential duty of ensuring that nothing happened to Emma or Henry that might stop the curse being broken. But you try reading the future, like when Henry got trapped down the mine. Fortunately, Pongo, under my mental prodding, was able to sort that out without me becoming directly involved. However, I was able to do some advanced planning and put in an order at the stationers for parchment or papyrus (if they could get any) or even bark paper (as used by the Maya) and quality traditional cuttlefish based ink. I got some very funny looks over the order. Getting stroppy, I actually told them what it was for, and that actually worked wonders. Just in-case of trouble, I wanted to be able to cast spells or summon Daedra using spell scrolls. This would need high quality paper and ink to hold the enchantment, which I, as a Dragon, could provide. And after Emma dug her claws in and decided to stay by becoming Deputy Sheriff, I was able to spare time from scrying to do a field test using the best rag based paper and some squid (the ink that is) that I got from the docks.

I had never done this before. After working out from the books a decent minor spell, "Summon Scamp for 30 Seconds", I enchanted the paper and wrote down the spell with a Parker fountain pen - I felt that a feather was unnecessary. I then activated the enchantment. It didn't take. Even using a wand the spell didn't take. By trial and error, I found out that even the best quality linen based paper would only allow "Summon Scamp for 10 Seconds". Barely enough time to frighten the Children and the Horses.

Next, I had to test the spell. Problem. According to the Oblivion game, Scamps are the (humanoid) rats of the Daedric Realms. I hate rats. I even hate tame lab rats (and mice). Hamsters are nicer - and they have rat sized teeth. Give me Dogs, Monitor Lizards and Scorpions any day. So, I waited until night time, morphed into my dragon form, and climbed up one of the trees outside. I'm neither a good climber or strong flyer, but it's fairly easy to climb a tree when you have claws on your hands, feet and wing thumbs. And no, I can't hang like a bat from my wing thumb claws, they're just not strong enough to take my weight for long. Perched on a branch, I decided not to activate the spell by pyrokinetc immolation of the scroll (which is wasteful), but to summon the Scamp by incantation, which would allow me to re-enchant the scroll later. After two false starts, I got the pronunciation right and this revolting cross between a rat and a goblin appeared at the foot of the tree. I uttered the words of command "Guard Me", and the Scamp responded correctly before vanishing back whence it came. Now what could I try next with only paper based spells -"Summon Lesser Clanfear for Five Seconds" or "Summon Fire Atronatch for One Second" ?

One really bad thing happened while all this was taking place, the murder of Sheriff Graham. I was watching TV at the time, and during the adverts I was trying to use one of the wands to channel my psychocreativity into turning some leather clothing that I had bought in town into a first attempt at Tudor style leather clothing - thigh boots, pants, slops (padded trunks that go over the thighs), jerkin and linen shirt with substantial set of collar and cuff ruffs. I felt that something truly diabolical had happened, and a hideous noise went through my mind. I went to my bed and straight into the trance state to check on Emma and Henry. I saw that Sheriff Graham was dead. I woke knowing that something truly evil had occurred. But what? I decided to try the static scrying approach first. Using the wand, I made a simple pendulum, opened the Storybrook phone book and went over it with the pendulum looking for clues. I got a response for Sheriff Graham and The Evil Queen. There was a map in the directory so I did the same again for location and the most massive response I got was for the grave yard cum park. I guessed that it meant The Evil Queen's Body Part Vault. I tried using the Seeing Stone - a simple Palantier - to view within the vault, but I learned nothing. I phoned Dad and asked for advice. He wasn't pleased about us getting involved in side issues, but Sheriff Graham was a force for both good and order, so he told me that The Evil Queen must have destroyed Graham's "heart". Resurrection might be a possibility.

I found a plastic bag, got a storage casket from the enchanting lab, and rode over to the mausoleum. Inside, I located the scene of the crime and could sense what had happened. Using my combined metafunctions, I gathered the "heart dust" into the plastic bag, put it in the casket and went home. The next evening, I was able to get into the funeral parlour. Fortunately it was to be burial rather than cremation. I had used my magical energy to power the arcane enchanter and rebuild the "heart", which I now concealed in the coffin, and then used a wand to cast Heal on Graham's body and Stasis on the coffin. My morning's practising had not been wasted and the spells worked. Now, at some future time, it should be possible to resurrect Sheriff Graham.


	7. Breaking The Curse Part 2

Shortly after Sheriff Graham's death, Rex Dracos returned from Boston to Storybrooke. Leo Dracos would soon be on his way from Portland, and as the only male in the family who could drive, he was coming with the Dogs in the their motor-home, which was stacked up with supplies, PC's and some up to date lab equipment. Trian Dracos's newly delivered Chopper was, for now, parked at Boston.

Then "The Dragon Murderer's" fake wife, Kathryn, went missing and all hell let lose. It didn't take long for Trian to locate her using Dream Trance, but interfering was another matter, since we didn't know what the plot was. You have to be clairvoyant like the Stygian Witches to figure that out. The brothers kept watch, often (invisible) on their bikes, and nearly had to intervene when Jefferson, "The Mad Hatter", got violent. It was fortunate that Leo had finally arrived, as Leo's telekinesis had to be used to ensure that Jefferson had a safe landing when he was booted out of the 2nd story window. Trian cast invisibility over Jefferson as his services might be needed later. After The Imp released Kathryn we were able to use the Palantier to view an entertaining conversation between The Imp and Evil Queen over the matter.

Finally, Dr Andrew Dracos flew back to Boston. Leo took Trian on his bike to Boston, and then returned to Storybrooke. Trian then used the Chopper to bring Dad and the Portal Mandala Stone home. Dad got his staff from the Enchanting Laboratory and then, with a flask of magic essence that Leo had condensed in the Portland laboratory, enchanted and shrunk the Chopper, placed it in a casket and stored it in the garage away from prying eyes. However, other events seemed to be moving quickly. The Seeing Stone had allowed Rex to observe The Evil Queen up to no good, putting a White Rabbit playing card on a bike. Dad guessed that she was planning to meet with Jefferson. They had to move fast in case something major was happening. So while the brothers positioned the portal stone outside the house, Dad created a simple henge around it. It was a very makeshift henge arrangement, but with everyone working together it was activated and quickly tested. A portal gateway to the home in Tideswell was operational. Creating a looking-glass link inside the houses must wait. Now they needed to concentrate fully on what The Evil Queen was up to.

It wasn't long before what The Evil Queen was up to was clear, when the Seeing Stone revealed Jefferson producing an Apple from His Hat. If Emma ate it, then maybe Henry could break the spell, or maybe not. Dad figured that The Dread Curse now had Henry as the focus; Henry must eat the apple and Emma must break whatever it's curse. As Rex had talked to Henry before, Rex was dispatched to warn Henry about Emma eating dodgey food. Then they just "sat back" and waited. Once The Dread Curse was broken, Dad's Bargain was fulfilled and the male side of Dracos family would be free to establish homes both here and in The Dragon Towers with Alex and Liam's families. However, there might be some inconvenient leftover side effects to deal with, and it was important the the Warding around Storybrooke continued to function. And there was the problem of Maleficent. She would transform back to her obnoxious human form, and need some medical attention and a place to stay. Which would not be with the male side of the Dracos family. Maybe at Granny's Bed and Breakfast ?


End file.
